Police prevent Saturday Mothers' gathering ahead of hearing, detain 10 people
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Ahead of the fifth hearing of the case against some members of the Saturday Mothers/People, the group gathered in front of the İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan.
The police did not allow the group to read out a statement, detaining at least 10 people, including defending lawyers and union representatives.
Human Rights Association (İHD) İstanbul Branch Chair Gülseren Yoleri and executive Leman Yurtsever, Left (SOL) Party member Alper Taş, lawyers Meriç Eyüboğlu and Efkan Bolaç and Newroz Tosun, a member of the Saturday Mothers/People are among the detained.
Meral Danyıldız, a reporter for Artı TV, said she was battered by the police and would file a criminal complaint.
What happened?
The Saturday Mothers/People staged their first sit-in protest on May 27, 1995, demanding that those who were forcibly disappeared be found and those responsible for the disappearances be put on trial.
On March 13, 1999, they suspended the gatherings after seven months of attacks by the police. The Saturday sit-ins resumed on January 31, 2009.
The Saturday Mothers/People faced police attack once again on August 25, 2018, the 700th week of the protest. Police used rubber bullets and detained many people.
The Beyoğlu district governor had banned the gathering "arbitrarily" within the knowledge of Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, İHD İstanbul Chair Gülseren Yoleri said at the time.
A lawsuit was filed against 46 people for violating the Law on Gatherings and Demonstrations.
Names of of the defendants are: Koray Çağlayan, Koray Kesik, Leman Yurtsever, Levent Gökçek, Lezgin Özalp, Maside Ocak, Mehmet Günel, Muhammed Emin Ekinci, Ayça Çevik, Besna Koç, Cafer Balcı, Can Danyal Aktaş, Cihan Oral Gülünay, Cüneyt Yılmaz, Deniz Koç, Ercan Süslü, Ezgi Çevik, Faruk Eren, Fecri Çalboğa, Ferhat Ergen, Gamze Elvan, Hakan Koç, Hasan Akbaba, Hasan Karakoç, Jiyan Tosun, Kenan Yıldızerler, Murat Akbaş, Murat Koptaş, Onur Yanardağ, Osman Akın, Özer Oymak, Özge Elvan, Ramazan Bayram, Rüşa Sabur, Sadettin Köse, Adil Can Ocak, Ahmet Karaca, Ahmet Süleyman Benli, Ali Ocak, Ali Yiğit Karaca, Atakan Taşbilek, Ataman Doğa Kıroğlu, Saime Sebla Arcan, Sinan Arslan, Ulaş Bedri Çelik, Volkan Uyar.
About Saturday Mothers/People
On May 27, 1995, Saturday Mothers/People gathered for the first time at Galatasaray Square for the ones who disappeared in custody. The first sit-in protests started after the deceased body of Hasan Ocak, who was taken into custody on March 21, 1995, was found in the Cemetery of the Nameless after being tortured.
The Saturday protests at Galatasaray Square were interrupted for an indefinite period of time on March 13, 1999, due to heavy police intervention for the last three years. The interruption continued for the next 10 years.
The silent sit-in protests of Saturday Mothers/People, which they started again at Galatasaray Square in 2009, continued until the police intervention in August 2018.
In the 700th sit-in on August 25, 2018, the police attacked the crowd with rubber bullets, detaining several relatives of the disappeared. The detained were released after giving their statements on the same day.
Since then, Saturday Mothers/People have not been allowed to gather at Galatasaray Square.
(AS/VK)